Goldeneye (duck)

Bucephala is a genus of diving ducks found in the Northern Hemisphere.

Taxonomy

The genus Bucephala was introduced in 1858 by American naturalist Spencer Baird with the bufflehead as the type species. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek, meaning, from, and,, a reference to the crest of the bufflehead making its head look large.
The bufflehead was formerly treated as the only member of the genus while the goldeneyes were incorrectly placed in Clangula, the genus of the long-tailed duck, which at that time was placed in Harelda. It may yet be correct to recognise two genera, as the bufflehead and the two goldeneyes are well diverged. In this case, Bucephala would be restricted to B. albeola and the name Glaucionetta resurrected for the goldeneyes.

The three living species are:
Known fossil taxa are:Bucephala cereti Bucephala ossivalis, which was very similar to the common goldeneye and may even have been a paleosubspecies or direct ancestorBucephala angustipes Bucephala sp.
Bucephala fossilis is now considered an extinct subspecies of the Bufflehead.